The porphyrazines (pzs), a class of porphyrin derivatives, have shown potential as therapeutic and imaging agents due to a combination of their near-IR absorbance/fluorescence and their enhanced chemical flexibility. Cell viability/proliferation assays and fluorescence microscopy were carried out in both tumor and normal cells to characterize the biological activity of...
Frictionless Information Systems (FIS) are a class of software systems that automatically bring users information and services related to what they are doing. These systems bridge the gap between the information a user wants and the repositories that contain the information - making the user more effective and informed. By...
Downsizings are now so pervasive that millions of Americans are laid off each year with the stated purpose of improving their organizations' financial outcomes. However, one of the unforeseen negative consequences of downsizings is high attrition by employees who "survive" the layoffs. This dissertation seeks to extend our understanding of...
The emergence of antimicrobial resistance and the growing concern to produce new drugs have influenced an increase in the amount of research directed towards the engineering of novel polyketides. The polyketide carbon backbone is synthesized by a set of enzymes known as polyketide synthases (PKSs). These catalyze the formation of...
Hypoxia is a reduction in the normal level of oxygen tension and occurs during acute and chronic vascular disease, pulmonary disease, and cancer. The key transcription factor that regulates the cellular responses to hypoxia is hypoxia-inducible-factor-1 (HIF-1). Understanding how HIF-1 is regulated is fundamental for understanding the biology of tumor...
This dissertation addresses the process-pathways running between immigrant adolescents' life experiences and their engagement in school by providing an ecocultural perspective on self-regulation. While the role of social context, such as stress and resources, has been identified as critical in its influence on different dimensions of adolescent development, research on...
This dissertation studies two long-standing asset pricing anomalies: "Value and Growth Effects" and "Momentum Effects" via the channel of market imperfections. These market imperfections stem from basic information asymmetry problem, and take forms of contracting problems and less than perfectly competitive information intermediaries.
The first essay (joint with Zhi Da)...
This thesis concerns the development of robust algorithms for large-scale nonlinear programming. Despite recent advancements in high-performance computing power, classes of problems exist that continue to challenge the practical limits of contemporary optimization methods. The focus of this dissertation is the design and analysis of algorithms intended to achieve economy...
The ready-mix concrete industry is a fascinating laboratory for the study of industry dynamics. Concrete plants produce a single homogeneous product with technology and equipment that has changed little over the last 50 years. Building a plant entails substantial sunk costs since the machinery used to produce ready-mix cannot easily...
Nature often uses reaction-diffusion(RD) as a means of making structures and materials of unique properties or morphologies on scales from macro- (e.g., stripes in zebras, tigers, and seashells, and formations in trees, agates, and rocks) to microscopic (e.g., cellular growth, chemotaxis and biological waves). However, reaction-diffusion phenomena have not yet...
Bosnian women war refugees are not only trauma survivors, but are actively engaged in economic and social practices that shape their American sites of relocation. These economic activities--wage labor, and unremunerated volunteer and kin labor--are embedded in a moral framework of mutual obligation rooted in the concept veze / connections,...
The extracellular matrix (ECM) is an environment rich in structural and signaling molecules, including growth factors and cytokines. Together, these signals are capable of changing cellular morphology and gene expression in response to extracellular environmental cues. Structural proteins in the ECM such as laminin transduce their signals through integrin receptors...
Motivated by applications to microfluidic separation systems like Capillary Electrophoresis (CE) and Capillary Electrochromatography (CEC), the research described in this dissertation analyzes through numerical and asymptotic methods the effect of variation in the wall zeta potential (or surface charge) on the electroosmotic flow field in a microchannel and the effect...
The classic error bounds for quasi-Monte Carlo approximation follow the Koksma-Hlawka inequality based on the assumption that the integrand has finite variation. Unfortunately, not all functions have this property. In particular, integrands for common applications in finance, such as option pricing, do not typically have bounded variation. In contrast to...
Part 1. The complex folded structures associated with RNA allow for specific protein-RNA interactions and also create binding sites for small molecules. Developing organic molecules that can bind RNA with high affinity and specificity is a challenge that must be overcome for RNA to be considered a viable drug target....
It's quite common for the novice musician to forget their place in the song, miss the change to a new section, or be unable to play in the key or at the tempo chosen by the leader. Every type of improvisational playing requires the player to follow a set of...
This thesis consists of the synthesis and photophysical characterization of chlorophyll- and porphyrin- based multichromophore arrays designed for the purpose of studying energy and charge transfer therein. The first series of arrays consists of donor-acceptor dyads in which various arylene diimide electron acceptors are attached through a phenyl group to...
We prove the L<SUP>2</SUP>-convergence of polynomial ergodic averages of multiple commuting transformations for totally ergodic systems. We show that for each set of polynomials, each average is controlled by a particular characteristic factor introduced by Host and Kra, which is an inverse limit of nilsystems. We then investigate for which...
Initial studies described the ability of CD4+CD25+ T regulatory (Treg) cells in suppressing autoimmune diseases in animal models. An emerging interest has focused on the potential role of Treg cells in cancer development and progression as they have been shown to suppress anti-tumor immunity. In the present study, CD4+CD25- T...
The general goal of this dissertation research was to examine linguistic and cognitive mechanisms in foreign vocabulary learning within theoretical frameworks of working memory and connectionist word processing models.
In Study 1, the effect of bimodal (auditory-and-visual) vs. unimodal (auditory-only) presentation on foreign word learning was examined at different levels...
Supramolecular chemistry has proven to be an effective strategy for bottom-up fabrication of monodisperse, functional nanostructures. However, most applications require these nanostructures to be spatially or orientationally ordered. This thesis investigates patterning and spatial confinement as tools for controlling order in self-assembling systems.
We first look to improve the ordering...
The aim of the present investigation was to examine the nature of individuals' parasocial relationships (one-sided attachments to media figures, Horton & Wohl, 1956). Five studies were designed to assess the prevalence and strength of individuals' attachments to their favorite television characters, manipulate exposure to the character or control targets,...
This dissertation is a comprehensive study on mutual fund flows and the portfolio liquidity of mutual funds. The dissertation is organized into three chapters. In the first chapter, I consider the problem of aligning the incentives between the mutual fund investor and the mutual fund manager. I show that the...
Theoretical studies on electronic structure governing charge transport properties are investigated to understand and improve the prediction of electron charge carrier organic semiconductors used in field-effect transistors. Perfluorinated oligothiophene semiconductors have shown experimental n-type behavior, but placement of fluorinated aryl groups changes charge polarities. Models were developed to investigate how...
Homotopy Gerstenhaber structure is shown to exist on the deformation complex of a morphism of associative algebras. The main step of the construction is extension of a B-infinity algebra by an associative algebra. Actions of B-infinity algebras on associative and B-infinity algebras are analyzed, extensions of B-infinity algebras by associative...
This dissertation examines the transformation of the city-state of Florence from a republic to a principality during the first half of the sixteenth century. It explores how this fundamental change in political organization altered the culture and society of the Florentine office-holding class. The dissertation describes the course of socio-cultural...
This dissertation deploys an interdisciplinary methodology, extending what is conventionally understood as discourse to include performance. It brings together the fields of performance studies, discourse analysis and theatre studies to document, contextualize, and analyze the events after the Los Angeles rebellion of 1992. It examines gang youth who turned to...
The current research tested the principles of role congruity theory of prejudice, which states that prejudice arises from an incongruity between a group stereotype and social role characteristics (i.e., the attributes and behaviors prescribed by the social role), such that prejudice occurs when members of a group enter or attempt...
Studies on consolidated democracies have long concluded that there is a positive relationship between socioeconomic status and turnout. The strength of the empirical findings that linked electoral participation to socioeconomic variables elevated this correlation to a law-like principle and made it possible to assume that this electoral behavior would prevail...
This dissertation is a study of the figure of the intruder in postcolonial francophone literature, film and graphic novels published and released in the second half of the 20th and early 21st century which develop a discourse on the Maghreb or the Maghrebian dispora in France. Postcolonial critics have long...
This study examines the intersection between art and politics in the salons of Les XX, a group of some twenty, mostly Belgian, artists organizing international exhibitions of art in Brussels, Belgium between 1884 and 1893. The fact that Les XX derived a significant base of support from some of the...
Anthony Braxton’s Trillium J, part of an ambitious planned “complex” of 36 one-act operas, premiered in 2014. Very little writing—anecdotal, journalistic, nor scholarly—exists on these works, so this research provides a critical introduction, contextualizing the operas within Braxton’s oeuvre and discussing the works’ fundamental musical materials and organization.
Examples from...
Several phosphonate-functionalized molecular
squares have been successfully synthesized,
and the fabrication of multilayer films
on both conductive and semiconducting
platforms has been demonstrated. These
films were grown using the well-documented
zirconium phosphonate multilayer method.
The layer-by-layer growth rate is uniform.
Experiments suggest, however, that the
molecular squares adopt a semi-collapsed...
The development and applications of
organic/DNA molecules for the use of DNA
detection systems are reported here. In particular,
two different hybrids are synthesized:
DNA/polymer hybrids and small-molecule
DNA hybrids. DNA/polymer hybrids are especially
useful considering that their functionality
may be varied according to the polymer
selected. The hybrids are...
Recent research suggests that ultraviolet
illumination is essential for the creation of
monolayers of Undecylenic Acid Methyl
Ester (UDAME), as it is believed that the
UV illumination initiates the radical-chain
polymerization. Samples created without
UV illumination, however, also show signs
of a monolayer. In this study, samples were
analyzed using...
This research project explores two different
processes that can be used to pattern
organic molecules on silicon. In the first
process, hydrogen-terminated silicon surfaces
were anodized in nanometer scale with
a contact-mode atomic force microscope
(AFM). Anodization was done by applying a
positive bias voltage to the surface with
respect...
Feedback-controlled lithography (FCL)
enables atomically precise patterning of
individual molecules on the technologically
significant Si(100)-2 x 1:H surface. However,
because it is performed in an ultrahigh vacuum
(UHV) environment, FCL has thus far
been restricted to surface chemistries that
can be delivered in the gas phase. The present
research attempts...
Transmission and reflection diffraction
gratings were fabricated by micropatterning
polymers on transparent substrates and
drop-coating polymers onto etched silicon
wafers. Exposure of these gratings to three
nerve toxin mimics at very low concentrations
resulted in mimic sorption by the polymers,
changing the polymer’s refractive
index. As a result, the grating’s...
The effects of 13 nm Au colloid and 10 nm Ag
colloid on the growth of the yeast species
Saccharomyces cerevisiae were compared
to control samples cultured in a growth
media of yeast extract, bacto peptone, and
dextrose (YPD) to determine the toxicity of
nanoparticles. Growth curves were generated
for...
In modern medicine, physicians destroy
otherwise healthy tissues in patients’ bodies
because of the lack of site-target specificity
and sensitivity in detecting and attacking
cancerous cells. Many cancer patients are
left with the difficult task of weighing the
benefits against the harm of undergoing
current cancer treatments. Members of the...
Chemists and physicists have been interested
in the optical properties of metal nanoparticles
since the time of Michael Faraday.1
New approximation techniques for different
sizes and geometries have created renewed
interest in and investigation of these particles.
Many different arrays of particle extinctions
of various shapes and sizes have been...
While nanoscale device prototypes using
carbon nanotubes abound, no mass
production-scale technique exists for examining
properties of a batch of nanotubes.
Dielectrophoresis, on the other hand, has
received much attention in the press as a
method of separating and trapping particles.
In this research, a method of developing
mass production-scale...
Fullerene and inorganic fullerene-like nanotubes
are molecules with the unique geometry
of a single layer or multiple layers of a bulk
material oriented in a tube. These molecules
have novel mechanical properties and great
potential in experimental systems for nanotechnology
and nanodevices. The threedimensional
atom-probe (3DAP) microscope
is an atomic...
The effects of Ru, W, and Re on the temporal
evolution of the gamma prime precipitates in
a Ni-Cr-Al alloy were investigated by threedimensional
atom probe (3DAP) microscopy.
The spatial distribution of the gamma prime
precipitates in a model Ni-8.5Cr-10Al alloy
was investigated using atomic force
microscopy (AFM). We reported...
This study investigated the precipitation
strengthening of the binary Al-0.14wt% Sc,
0.16% Ti alloy system. Ingots of Al-2.1wt% Sc
and Al-4.68wt% Ti were melted together, and
the nucleation, growth, and coarsening of
precipitates were analyzed. The microstructural
evolution of the nanoscale L12 precipitates
phase was examined with Vickers
microhardness testing,...
Electron transfer theory predicts reorganization energy to be one factor that determines the electrochemical potential of a metal ion. This paper describes part of a study that aims to increase understanding of solvent reorganization energy in noncovalent systems by systematically varying the environment around a metal ion, specifically ruthenium. The...
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive
mental disorder that affects 23 million people
worldwide. It is pathologically characterized
by amyloid plaques and tau tangles that
form in the brain. The hard, insoluble amyloid
plaques develop from the naturally
secreted amyloid beta peptide, which can
also assemble into toxic oligomeric forms...
Every year millions of Americans go to the
emergency room with symptoms of a heart
attack. More than half a million Americans
die each year of myocardial infarctions (MI)
caused by coronary heart disease (CHD).
CHD detection is currently limited to EKG
analyses of electrical signals generated by
the heart...
The optical properties of spherical gold
nanoparticles are calculated using classical
electrodynamics. The wavelength corresponding
to maximum extinction shifts to
longer wavelengths as the size of the
nanoparticle is increased. The influence of
higher-order multipoles is evident for large
nanoparticles, making the spectra more
complex. When the shell thickness of...
This paper explores the various approaches
to time-resolved single nanoparticle spectroscopy.
Due to the novelty of these types
of experiments, several difficulties arise in
creating a feasible physical setup capable
of imaging single nanoparticles less than
100 nm in size. The various difficulties in
setup and their attempted resolutions will...